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Legal Requests/Requirements for Confidential Data from Research Field Notes
| Title | Legal Requests/Requirements for Confidential Data from Research Field Notes |
| Publication Type | Case Study |
| Year of Publication | 2009 |
| Authors | American Sociological Association |
| Publisher | American Sociological Association |
| Abstract | A researcher conducting a participant-observation work-study of risk behavior in a local community social service organization is asked to hand over her field notes to police after a robbery occurs. The notes include information from interviews with local teenagers at the center about their sexual activity, abortion, use of illegal drugs, and problems at home and school. If she refuses, she may be sent to a local jail until she turns over the notes, but if she does turn them over she breaks her promise of confidentiality to the teenagers, as the notes may be used in a criminal case against some of the teens described. What should she do? |
| URL | Click here for the document |

